Hi there chaps - having a lot of trouble getting Risc OS to install on my raspberry pi zero. I tried using win32DiskImager and dropped the riscos-2015-02-17-RC14.img file on to it - the Pi Zero just remained a blank screen. Then I got NOOBS running (tested with a Raspbian OS that installed correctly) but RISC_OS directory wasn't recognised, even with lots of rename attempts. Then I tried an old version of NOOBS with all the OSes on it - RISC OS wasn't recognised. Finally I used a new version of NOOBS but with the old version's copy of RISC_OS and this time at least the bootloader did show RISC OS as an option. Unfortunately it then said Risc OS could not install - "size of recovery partition too large"? I have a bog standard 8gb SD card.

What's my next step? I've googled this problem for some time and must be using the wrong terms because getting the information is proving ... frustrating.

Is it even possible to install risc os to a Pi Zero?

Many Thanks

Last edited by jubber on Thu Jan 19, 2017 3:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

tried using win32DiskImager and dropped the riscos-2015-02-17-RC14.img file on to it

The PiZero was released towards the end of 2015.

No Operating System or Installer released prior to that date will boot up the PiZero without intervention or modification.

The NOOBS Installer, even the 'full' offline version, contains only the Raspbian Operating System. To be able to see other Operating Systems available for installation from online sources your RPi will need a working internet connection.

tried using win32DiskImager and dropped the riscos-2015-02-17-RC14.img file on to it

The PiZero was released towards the end of 2015.

No Operating System or Installer released prior to that date will boot up the PiZero without intervention or modification.

The NOOBS Installer, even the 'full' offline version, contains only the Raspbian Operating System. To be able to see other Operating Systems available for installation from online sources your RPi will need a working internet connection.

Part of your reply is incorrect - NOOBS installer comes in a version which *does* contain multiple operating systems - although it does take a bit of searching to find it. Moreover the NOOBS installer has a folder called "os" - so even on the lite versions you can place various operating systems for offline install before the SD card is rejigged by the pi's boot system. However, if you're correct in saying that nothing made before late 2015 will install then presumably you are saying, definitively, that RISC OS cannot be installed on the Raspberry Pi Zero, because that img file was the latest one I could find on the RISC OS website.

That's a pity.

Moreover the Pi Zero does not have pre-boot wifi capabilities, so no method to install RISC OS exists (although there is one wifi module that works in the pre-boot mode, but it costs four times as much as the Pi Zero itself, making it rather an expensive experiment).

Maybe put that in the subject line and the people that know might answer...because "Pi Zero" is so vague no one cares.

Righto - subject line changed. Considering this is the RISC OS part of the forum I thought "Pi Zero" might have been sufficiently obvious - but your advice is well taken

Good point - I tend to forget that there are even different forums because I think a lot of us just fire up and hit "new posts" - which gives no indication of the individual forum anything is posted in unless you do some digging.

I'm not sure which posts lead me there - I'm very new to these forums - but it was being discussed as the last full fat version of Noobs (before it was shrunk for the benefit of 4GB cards?)

It contains various OS flavours, including RiscOS. Although this is old, the Pi Zero hardware is also, as far as I know, very similar to the model B. This NOOBS version did run, and Raspbian installed successfully from it - but RISC OS did not. It must be very nearly compatible - or possibly my Pi Zero is knackered in some subtle fashion.

Mikerr - the second link you posted, which had a download for riscos-2016-01-03-RC14_DSI_Zero - actually worked!

Many thanks - that's the nth file I've tried and the first that did anything. Hopefully any other Pi Zero owners who struggle to find the right information will eventually find this topic and have more success than I initially did.